With the Election Commission’s announcement of another round of Assembly elections in the crucial states of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and bypolls to several Assemblies and Lok Sabha seats across the States, the decks are now cleared for Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi to plunge into active politics by contesting from Wayanad in Kerala on November 13. The election in Wayanad has been necessitated after Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat for Rae Bareli, the other seat he had won during the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
With Priyanka’s potential entry into active politics, the Congress’ first family will be looking to solidify its influence in the Parliament. Additionally, with Priyanka’s presence in Wayanad, the party hopes to send a strategic message to the public, signalling the Congress’s presence in both northern and southern regions.
Election Commission (EC) announced single phase Assembly polls in Maharashtra for on November 20, while Jharkhand to vote in two phases on November 13 and 20. The votes for both the polling states and bypolls will be counted on November 23.
Keeping in view of the several upcoming festivals, including Diwali from October 29 to November 1, Chhath and Dev Deepawali on November 15 , the dates were decided and this will allow voters, particularly those temporarily migrating for the festivals, ample time to return to their registered voting locations.
The term of Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26, while the term of Jharkhand Assembly will end on January 5, 2025. Maharashtra has 288 seats while Jharkhand has 81 seats. Bye-elections to 47 Assembly seats and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat will be held on November 1.
Announcing the schedules Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the date of issue of Gazette notification for the Maharashtra Assembly election is October 22, last date of filing nominations is October 29, the date for scrutiny of nominations will be October 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 4. “There are 9.63 crore eligible voters in Maharashtra while the number of eligible voters in Jharkhand is 2.6 crore,” Kumar said.
Expressing concern over urban apathy affecting voter turnout, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday said that polling days in Maharashtra and Jharkhand have been kept mid-week so that more people vote. The EC has been flagging the issue of low polling in urban centres including those like Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, and has been taking a number of steps to increase voter awareness.
In Maharashtra, turnouts in 62 of 64 urban Assembly constituencies were less than the state average in 2019, as was the case in Lok Sabha elections, he said, adding “We will have a special drive for urban areas”. He said in the recent Haryana election, there were booths in the “poshest” areas where voting was less than 20 per cent.
After the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir polls, the BJP hopes to make a return to power in Maharashtra, where it has an alliance with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The Maharashtra election is expected to witness a two-way fight between the ruling Mahayuti Alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde and NCP-Ajit Pawar and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, of the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP-Sharad Pawar and the Congress.
In the 2019 Assembly election, the BJP, and undivided Sena, coalition had come to power in the state which won105 seats, while the Congress secured 44. The BJP’s performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections saw a drop, winning only nine seats out of 48, compared to 23 in the previous term, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 30 seats.
Bypolls to the Kedarnath Assembly seat in Uttarakhand and the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra will be held on November 20. Bypolls to the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal and Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh were not announced as election petitions are pending for the two seats.
The BJP hopes to make a dent this time in Jharkhand. The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), part of the INDIA Bloc, is up againNational Democratic Alliance (NDA), which comprises the BJP, the Janata Dal (United), and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). In 2019, Hemant Soren’s JMM had won 30 seats while the Congress bagged 16 seats paving way for Soren to be sworn in as CM.
The BJP-led NDA has already started campaigning to regain lost ground, deploying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who have been raising the issues of “Bangladeshi infiltration” and “rampant corruption”.
For the much to be watched bypoll, after Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, Congress announced that Priyanka Gandhi would contest the bypolls there.
Rahul chose the Rae Bareli seat because of the Congress’s strong history in the constituency, having won all Lok Sabha elections except in 1977, 1996, and 1998. Rahul’s grandparents, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Feroz Gandhi have also represented this constituency, as did his mother the longest serving party president Sonia Gandhi who is now a Rajya Sabha MP.
